Planning Your Database

The worst thing you can do when asked to create a database is to immediately go into Excel or Access, and start defining fields and entering data. For most business applications, this path almost always leads to disaster. Before you start creating anything, you need to have a clear understanding of the functional requirements for the database—what questions the database is supposed to answer. Then you have to identify the information you need to maintain to answer those questions. This determines the most appropriate tool to meet those requirements. Only then should you start to create the database solution.

Analyzing Your Requirements

A requirements analysis is a process that helps you understand how the database should function from the customer’s perspective, and allows you to turn those requirements into a set of specifications for the database developer. Your requirements analysis answers the questions “What?” and “Who?” It does not address the question “How?” meaning how the database solution will be built to address these objectives. That comes next.